The Hustle .:Jan 13 09:.

Baile Funk & What the F**k?! .:Jan 08 09:.

First is the Baile Funk. I want to try this one day. This guy synchronized his drum machine triggers to some pyrotechnics....GENIUS. I have to go to a party like this in Brazil one day....probably won't happen anytime soon. My a$$ is broke.

...and now "what the F**k" Pauze put me onto this vid. I told him to post it...but he's too slow:

San Diego Trip .:Dec 26 08:.

Made a trip to San Diego last week. HAD to get some Mexican food right
when we got there. That hashbrown burrito from Contija's is THE BOMB!
Later that night, helped out Destijl DJ at DK's birthday party. Best
set I've played in a while. 90% vinyl by the way...10% Serato. Hit up
Tajima after that...they got the best Ramen I've had...ever. Better
than any spot in the bay (so far). Next day was the annual X-mas party
with the homies. Will be back down next month for the B-Boy Jam Romali
and I are DJ-ing.

Hardtimes .:Dec 22 08:.

As some of you may already know, I've been pursuing graphic design as a career for the past year. Went back to community college, had a pretty demanding professor there, got an internship with Nam at Flavorinnovator (www.flavorinnovator.com), and now I'm interning at another studio called 4040 (www.4040exp.com), which will be ending on the 9th. With that said, my days lately at work have been spent looking for freelance gigs on Craigslist. Came across this posting:

I had previously seen this posting last week, and it was basically asking for poster designs from artists for some major San Francisco festivals. The thing was, they were asking for the artists to create the poster designs first, and they will judge and choose the winner. Sounded mad fishy. So I guess the post was pirated, and now it says this.

The thing is, given the state of the economy and my looming unemployment, I skeptically responded to another ad asking for a logo. At least it wasn't a full out poster to design. I had some free time, and who knows it may be a good look in building my portfolio. I came up with 3 proofs (drafts), emailed them to the guy, along with a legal disclaimer in regards to usage, and he said he didn't think any of them were in the direction he was looking for, and then asked "Would it be a huge deal to see some additional mock-ups?" I was like in my head, "this guy."

At this point, my little experiment had been proven successful given all the advice I had received before in regards to this kind of thing. I went ahead and quoted the guy my rates and told him that's what he has to pay if you want me to work any further. The guy didn't respond back yet. Then this pirated Craigslisting post came up today.

Times are tough for everyone I guess right now, but it sucks when being frugal means stiffing art professionals. I couldn't even say that I am a full-fledged "art professional" as of yet, but I better stay sharp. I don't want to be start sliding down that slippery slope of being taken advantage of as an artist. Time to make some changes to the master plan.

Recent Record Pickups .:Dec 20 08:.

So far my
favorites are the Shafiq, Data Bwoy, and the Clutchy Hopkins / Shawn
Lee collab. FIRE! That DJ Cam record is something I have been
searching for, and is worth the buy for the track "Success" alone.

My Design Work .:Dec 08 08:.

Here are a couple of the latest design projects I've created for the crew. Since I've moved to the bay, I decided to pursue graphic design as a career. I like to design things for the crew to keep my Photoshop skills sharp, and to add some value to my portfolio. Hope you guys like....I do plan on making the following poster a wallpaper for visitors to download.